


Knowing Me, Knowing You

by slyblues



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Drama & Romance, M/M, Mystery, Pining, Teen Romance, i've been a good spamano shipper my whole life but here we are, walking the cat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 07:52:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11249385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slyblues/pseuds/slyblues
Summary: Lovino would have liked to finish his senior year of high school without his brother getting arrested for felonies, please.The Faulted German's brother wasn't helping any, either, if he was going to be honest.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, no. I'm back.  
> Get ready for two chapters today.

It was the sort of day that Lovino wished for and cursed at all at once. The breeze was strong, cooling a heated day while thrashing through his hair far too much. The sun’s warmth seeped to his bones, but it was just harsh enough to cause a sheen of sweat to span his forehead and his long sleeves to seem uncomfortable and cumbersome. He mumbled his discontentment as he rushed to his first class of the day. 

 Just as the shrill bell tone sounded overhead, he strode over the threshold of room 45. He smiled apologetically at his teacher as he walked towards his seat.  _ “Buongiorno, signora.” _

 She smiled back. She was a pretty woman of about thirty-five who spoke Italian well, but she tended towards an accent that sounded more Spanish, not that Lovino minded terribly. “ _ Ciao, Lovino.”  _

 Lovino sat near the back door of the classroom in the second row from the back and directly between another student and the wall. This position was nice enough. The freshmen that sat behind him were less annoying than some of the others and talked little with each other. The only real issue was the student who sat directly beside him, though even he could be ignored with no incredible amount of effort. Lovino ignored him with such competence that he couldn’t even tell you what this student’s first name was. 

 The tall, broad blond collapsed into his chair as Lovino pulled a stack of paper and a pen from his bag.  

 “Can I borrow some paper?” He leaned over farther than strictly necessary to speak at the volume he did. Lovino slid a sheet over the surface of the table and wrote his name in the top margin of his own paper. 

 It seemed only a few minutes after he began his assignment until the bell rang again. It was a shortened day, he remembered. His things went back into his bag and he stood, his face colliding with a tall, broad back and its rucksack. He took one stumbling step backwards and regarded Beilschmidt, who had decided that blocking the narrow aisle that would allow for Lovino’s quick escape as he spoke idly with the two boys that stood in the center margin breaking rows of long tables. 

 It was Francis something-or-other and Antonio Fernández, Lovino recognized with trilling irritation. Lovino stood straight once more and cleared his throat behind Beilschmidt’s shoulder. Antonio peered over his friend and noticed the increasingly angry boy waiting patiently. He put a hand on Beilschmidt’s arm and guided him out of the way. 

 Beilschmidt furrowed his brow and stopped what he was saying. “What are you doing?” 

 Antonio pointed. 

 Lovino glowered.  _ “Scusami.”  _ He pushed past the others and went directly for the door. 

 “How was I supposed to know there was someone there?” 

 Antonio laughed. “When do you ever?” 

 

 Lovino welcomed the heavy chatter of the hallway. It was raucous and draining and it never ceased but in the very early hours of morning or the very late hours of the evening, when all school activities were not yet started or already finished and only custodial staff milled about. He found it awful, while easy to lose himself in. He found himself a thinker of terrible romantic thoughts in those times when he functioned on only an hour of sleep, a cup of coffee, and pure, unadulterated spite. 

 He had two more classes that day before his lunch break. After the sixth bell that day, Lovino dragged his feet to the outdoor benches in the quad to the immediate west of the school. He sat and waited, setting his messenger bag on the table and resting his head and arms atop it. Eventually, he felt the weight on the table shift and heard another bag falling onto the upper surface. He lifted his head. 

 “I love you, but you look like crap, Lovi.” 

 He tried to narrow his eyes in contempt, but couldn’t bring himself to. “I know.” 

 Veronika smiled kindly and reached a hand to place on top of Lovino’s. “As your best friend, I think I am obliged to tell you to sleep.” 

 Lovino raised an eyebrow, and Veronika did so, too. “Yes, of course, I intentionally have projects assigned to me that take way too fucking long and then only give myself two days to do them alone because I always have to put myself in the worst group in the class.” 

 Veronika looked sympathetic. “You know what I mean.” 

 Lovino sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

 Another sat beside him and he inhaled sharply and his shoulders tensed. 

 “Is it okay if I sit with you today? Ludwig is taking a test for math so I’m all alone.” 

 “Fine. Okay.” Lovino looked at his brother curiously. There was something Feliciano was not telling him. 

 “So.” 

 “Yes?”

 “Did you hear about the party Basch is throwing this Saturday?” 

 Lovino almost rolled his eyes. “Why would I have heard about it? He is your boyfriend’s cousin. I have nothing to do with him.” Veronika swatted his hand and gave him a pointed look. 

 “I just thought you might have heard it through the grapevine, or something.” Feliciano looked almost hurt. “Also, he’s not my boyfriend.”

 “Whatever. I didn’t. I wouldn’t be going anyways.” He cracked a shoulder and straightened his posture. 

 “What?”  _ Come now, Feliciano, this shouldn’t be a shock. “ _ But you never come! It might be fun, you might like it.” 

 “No.” 

 Feliciano huffed. “Please?” 

 “Nope.” 

 “ _ Fratello, per favore?”  _

_  “ _ No.” 

 “Come on, Lovi,” Lovino turned his head to Veronika. She grinned like a madwoman.  _ Traitor.  _ “It wouldn’t hurt.” 

 “Yes, it would. It would hurt lots of things. Like my pride and my dignity, and my having gone four whole days without a migraine induced by drunk jackasses.”

 “Who was the last drunk jackass to give you a migraine?” Feliciano cocked his head to the side. Lovino looked him dead in the eye. 

 “You.” 

 The bell rang. Lovino gathered his things and started towards his next class. 

 

 

 The next time Feliciano mentioned the party, it is the night of, minutes before the taller, broader blond mess he calls Ludwig was supposed to pick him up from his home. 

 He was persistent, and Lovino nearly caved, but Ludwig arrived to spare him Feliciano’s last resort bribery. Left alone in a house just too big for one person, he picked up the home phone and dialed a familiar number. 

_ “Hello?”  _

 “Yes, Vera, hello. Feliciano has left.” Lovino leaned up against the marble countertop and waited for a response. 

 Veronika hummed thoughtfully.  _ “Well, I suppose you could come over. I haven’t much to do, but I was going to take Karma for a walk, if you’d like to tag along?”  _

__ Lovino straightened. “That sounds perfect. I will grab my coat and be there in less than ten minutes.” 

 Lovino walked instead of driving. Veronika did not live too far away and the night air was crisp and warm; missing it would be a shame. As Lovino stepped up the porch of the Maes family ranch-style home, Veronika opened the door with Karma’s leash in hand. Karma rubbed her head against Lovino’s leg and he knelt to scratch behind her hears. 

 “You know,” he said to Veronika, “You’re the only person I know that walks a cat.” 

 She smiled at him and pulled her coat tighter around her as she started to the sidewalk. 

 

 “There’s the Big Dipper. I think.” Veronika pointed to the sky in a vague direction. “And that’s-- that’s, um. That’s something. Right there.” 

 “Your knowledge of space astounds me, darling.” Lovino winked at her to communicate his jest and she laughed. 

 “Obviously I’m an expert.” She nudged him with her elbow as they rounded the shoulder towards Lovino’s house. 

 As soon as they cleared the corner, they saw the glaring red and blue lights cordoning off a section of the cul de sac, directly in front of Lovino’s home. He gave Veronika a fleeting confused look that she returned before he jogged towards the commotion and she lifted Karma into her arms and followed after him. 

 Lovino found a police officer on the sidewalk a few feet away from his wide open door and immediately turned his confusion to the officer. “What the fuck is going on here? What the fuck are you doing here?” 

 The officer turned to look at him. This man was tall, a few inches more so than Lovino, and he had a full head of wild brown hair cropped short. His name badge said he was an Officer Garcia. “Sir, I’m going to need you to calm down.” 

 “No! There’s no way I’m going to calm down right now, not until you  _ tell me what is happening.” _

_  “ _ Sir, may I ask what you’re doing here?” 

 “What I’m doing here?  _ You _ are asking  _ me _ what I am doing at my own house?”

 “You live here?”

 “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do! This is my house and you will tell me what--” Lovino’s eyes flicked to the right for just a moment and he was rendered speechless.  _ “What in the living fuck  _  did you do to get  _ arrested?!” _

__ Feliciano’s eyes lifted to his brother’s and he started to shake his head violently. “No, no! Lovi, please understand! I promise, what they say I did, I didn’t do it!” 

 “Well, you’re the one in cuffs, you idiot!” He took a moment to collect his words. They were not coming easily.  _ “I swear to God above, I leave for half an hour and you manage to get into this shit! Do you realize what I put up with from you, honestly? I’m seventeen years old and I think I’m starting to grey! Does mother know? Does father? What did you even  _ do _ , to find this mess?!”  _

 Officer Garcia took a step closer to Lovino and put a hand up. “Sir, I understand you’re upset, but could you work with us? Stop speaking Spanish, if that’s alright?” 

 Lovino very, very slowly turned his head to face the officer. 

 “What  _ the fuck _ did you just say to me?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And a wind-up before the hitting of the shit to the fan.

Lovino was four years old when Feliciano was born. Little, warm, noisy Feliciano who seemed to be constantly present. Lovino understood very little of the concept of children. He, despite being one himself, thought they were vile little seedlings of people. They always either ate, slept, or cried, and they had no sense of  _ manners _ or appreciation. It was very unrefined of them,  Lovino thought. Despite this, Lovino loved his little brother from the moment he laid eyes on him. 

 As Feliciano grew, Lovino wondered how he could keep such a boyish wonder towards everything he experienced. New things were exciting to him, not uncertain and nerve wracking. People were interesting, not irritating and irrelevant. Social situations were thrilling, not draining and tedious. Lovino would never admit, not even in the nights he spent thinking alone in his room while Feliciano was at a friend’s house, that he wished he could be more like that. That he was jealous of his baby brother. 

 Soon Feliciano was in middle school and Lovino had just begun high school. Feliciano was busy just about every night, as were their parents, so Lovino took up painting. Two weeks later he found out that Feliciano had, too. He quit. He began to learn to sculpt. Feliciano had, as well. He quit again. This pattern continued for years; calligraphy, soccer, cooking, writing, playing piano, and dancing were all things that Lovino now knew his younger brother was better at. This had bothered him, for a while. 

 One day, a pretty girl with a strong accent and a stronger personality showed up in Lovino and Feliciano’s neighborhood and introduced herself as Veronika Maes. Feliciano took to her instantaneously and he began chattering on about how ‘he was Italian, you know, do you know how to say “hello” in Italian, because I do, it’s “ _ ciao _ ,” did you know?’ Lovino would have very much liked to interject that  _ he _ actually came from Italy-- Sicily in fact-- and spoke the language fluently, information with which he could say with much confidence that Feliciano’s accent was absolutely horrendous. It was three days later at school that Veronika had seen Lovino sitting alone at lunch and joined him unceremoniously with a  _ clatter _ and a  _ plop _ and an offer to share her food. Her brother made it and it wasn’t anything special, but it was food and it didn’t look like he had any. Lovino was amused and confused at once. 

 Veronika and Lovino made fast friends from the beginning. She was kind, clever, and reliable, while Lovino was brash, brusque, and cocksure to a fault. Her personality was strong, but Lovino’s was loud. They fit together well enough that it was assumed that their relationship was beyond that of friends. Lovino’s mother figured they were different enough to be very close, but “ _ nuddu si pigghia si ‘un s’assumigghia,”  _ she always said. “No one is attracted to one who does not resemble themselves.” Lovino chalked it up to some sort of secret Sicilian adult wisdom that he wouldn’t understand until he reached parent age and suddenly all his parents’ and grandparents’ sayings and lectures would suddenly seem sensical. 

 Veronika was Lovino’s support system when things got bad for him, but she could not figure a single way to help him as she watched his hands shake around the telephone while he said “ _ Se, mamma, ti vogghiu beni. Ciau.”  _ He tossed the phone to his side and leant back into the couch, pressing his wrists to his eyes. “This is so stupid.”

 Veronika nodded and stroked Karma’s head. 

 Lovino sat up, then stood, and took a deep breath. “Food?”

 Veronika stood and released Karma onto the floor. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket. “It’s already one-thirty. I think our only option is going to be shitty American pizza, if you don’t have anything in the kitchen.” 

 “Fuck. I don’t. Call?” He collapsed backwards, back onto the sofa, and groaned.  

 They sat in relative silence until their pizza arrived, which Lovino then ate like he hadn't eaten in days. “Okay, but,” he started between mouthfuls of food, “underage drinking and  _ arson?”  _

 “Suspected,” Veronika offered. 

 “Same difference.”

 “Lovino.” Her tone was stern and it caught him off guard. 

 “What?”

 “You don’t really think he did it, do you?” Her voice was softer now, echoing back to him exactly what he was thinking. 

 He shook his head. “No. I don’t. Why would he? He’s irritating and oblivious, but he’s not an  _ arsonist _ .” 

 She hummed. “The officers said they were caught ‘fleeing the scene,’ yes?”

 “Apparently they were looking all sketchy ‘nd antsy outside and they left, what, five minutes before the place went up in flames?” His hands motioned wildly as he mentioned the house catching fire. A slice of pepperoni fell to the floor. Karma leapt at it immediately. Lovino sighed. 

 “Coincidence, perhaps?” 

 “I’d damn well hope so. Our parents aren’t thrilled about this.” He looked pensive for a moment. “Although, I think they always expected this kind of trouble from me.”

 Veronika actually laughed. “The closest to any of this you’ve ever gotten is getting drunk off half a bottle of wine in a German hotel during that one class trip.”

 “Excuse me, that was perfectly justified by the fact I was previously forced to eat a German meal.” Lovino shuddered. “I had to eat potatoes, Vera.” She scoffed. He gave her a lingering, pointed look and almost immediately heard the home phone ring from where he left it, face-down on the sofa. He scrambled to pick it up in time and answered out of breath. “Hello?” 

 Veronika watched as Lovino mumbled in a language she was unable to understand with a solemn look on his face. “Is everything okay?” 

 Lovino bit his lip and nodded. “No improvements, not yet, at least. They likely won’t be home tonight, but they said you can stay the night, if you’d like, since it’s already so late.” 

 Veronika nodded energetically and rose to her feet. “If that’s alright. Thank you, Lovi, I’ll be borrowing clothing.” She turned on a heel, tossed her paper plate in the garbage can on her way out of the kitchen, and started up the stairs.

 Lovino nodded before he heard what she said. “Wait! Leave my room alone, damn it!”

 

 Lovino awoke Saturday morning to Karma’s ass directly on his face. He coughed the black fur from his mouth and pushed the cat away to sit up, but she only laid back down on his pillow after him. Lovino decided that it was much too early for this and got out of bed to make himself coffee.

 Two days later, on Monday morning, Lovino was in Italian class again. He hadn’t waited for long until Mrs. Bradbury announced that the entire class would be forcefully grouped into trios, whether they liked it or not. Lovino feared the project to come, but when his and Veronika’s names were called in quick succession, his spirits lifted. High enough they went that he did not notice who the third member of their group was. 

 “You’re going to make a sports magazine, really however you’d like, so long as you use at least six vocabulary words on each page and have at least four pages. Each member must do at least one page themselves if your group wants an A.” The entire class groaned collectively before she continued. “No complaining, and get in your groups.”

 Veronika immediately sat herself at the table in front of Lovino before the mad dash to sort into groups began. She turned to face him. “So the three of us, yes?” 

 “Us and who?” 

 “I guess.” 

 Both were said at the same time and Lovino turned to look at his blond, six-foot-something, quarterback-looking desk partner. Lovino noticed for the first time that his hair wasn’t even really blond, it was closer to white. “Oh.”

 “Yeah,” Beilschmidt started, “We’re stuck, so we might as well make the most of it.”

 Lovino raised an eyebrow and turned back to Veronika. “How about winter sports?”

 “Great!” She clapped her hands together. “We can do figure skating and hockey and snowboarding and skiing!”

 “I’ll do hockey.” Lovino was mildly surprised that Beilschmidt was so readily offering to help.

 “I’ll do figure skating.”

 Lovino sighed. He was doing a lot of that lately. “I’ll do the other two.” 

 “Now that this is worked out, can you work on this after school with us, or…” She looked up at Beilschmidt. 

 He looked troubled for a split second before nodding. “Yeah. You wanna meet somewhere?” 

 “How about the bagel place on 23rd?” Veronika didn’t stop to think.

 “Alright.” He nodded. Lovino hated his life.

 Not moments after the last bell of the day rang, Lovino was ambushed by 100 pounds of happy Belgian best friend near his locker. “So,” she said as she put her hand on Lovino’s shoulder, “group addition number three is pretty cute.”

 Lovino looked at her like she had gone particularly insane today. “Not really.” 

 She looked at him like he was a filthy liar. “He has a perfectly nice face. And he looks like he lifts entire houses for fun.” 

 “Wow, how attractive.”

 “Oh, hush, you, don’t be mean.” She giggled and led Lovino by the arm. “I fancy that Spanish friend of his more, anyways.”

 Beilschmidt was already waiting by the time Lovino and Veronika arrived at the tiny bagel shop on one of the town’s busiest streets. He was tapping out a message on his cell phone with a duffle bag hung from his shoulder and his backpack on the floor by his feet, a bagel with cream cheese sitting, minimally picked at on the table in front of him. He rubbed his eye with the back of his hand and looked up. When he saw Lovino and Veronika, he smiled and waved. Veronika waved back and excused herself to go order food for herself and Lovino. That left Lovino with no options beyond standing in the walkway like a moron or sitting down with Beilschmidt. He hated himself for contemplating it for a moment.

 Lovino sat neatly, smoothing his shirt over his chest and placing his bag gently beside him. “Have you started yet?”

 Beilschmidt scoffed. “Of course I have.”

 An eyebrow raised. “Show me.” 

 Beilschmidt pulled a sheet of paper from his backpack and turned it over to show to Lovino. He had drawn a hockey player in motion, not yet colored, and there were a three or four sport-related sentences scribbled at the top of the paper. He actually drew fairly well, but Lovino liked to nag. 

 “You’re conjugation wrong.” He pointed at the offending sentence. 

 “Oh. Shit, thanks.” Beilschmidt hurried to fix his mistake. As he turned the paper to amend his wrongdoing, Lovino caught a glimpse of the heading on the back:

_ Gilbert Beilschmidt  _

_ Italian 2, Period 1 _

 “Wait, your name’s Gilbert?” 

 Beilschmidt looked up, furrowed his brow, and cocked his head to the side. “Yes? Why? Did you not know that?” 

 The gears in Lovino’s head began to work until, finally, it clicked. “You’re that sorry blond brick house’s brother!”

 “ _ Excuse  _ me?” Gilbert’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know shit about my brother.” 

 Lovino almost laughed. “I know that when  _ my  _ brother started hanging around him, suddenly he was getting arrested for drinking and lighting houses on fire, so I may have an  _ idea _ , thanks.”

 “The little Italian kid? Feli? He’s your brother?” There was no longer an angry tension in Gilbert’s voice. His face softened. 

 “ _ Feliciano _ is my brother, yes.”

 “Holy shit, he got booked too?” 

 “Friday night.”

 “How is he?”

 “I wouldn’t know.” Lovino looked determinedly at the wallpaper peeling from the drywall on his right. Gilbert sighed and nodded. 

 “I get it; I haven’t seen Ludwig either. My granddad’s losing his mind over all of this.” 

 “So are my parents. They're mostly just shocked that I’m not the issue for once.” 

 Gilbert laughed. “Same here.” He took a good, hard look at Lovino. “You don’t look like trouble, though.” 

 Lovino nodded. “I’m mostly just an ass.” 

 Gilbert snorted and began to speak again when Veronika placed a paper plate with toasted cheese bagel in front of Lovino and another on the table where she then sat. “Aren’t you two cute?” 

 “No.” 

 Veronika rolled her eyes and gave Lovino a pointed look.

 Lovino bit into his bagel and sighed again.


End file.
